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Armando Ibarra, playing at Fowler Museum last week, is part of Yerba Tribe, a Latin music group with songs it feels express truth and reality.

Music is a stronger tie than blood for Armando Ibarra and Francisco Zarathustra, the lead singers and guitarists of the reggae-tinged hip-hop group Yerba Tribe.

“We respect each other a lot. A band has a really deep relationship; we’re a tribe,” Zarathustra said.

Meshing reggae protest themes with hip-hop and cumbia ballads, the Los Angeles-based Yerba Tribe has entertained and educated their teenage audiences for over four years. They performed last week as a part of the Fowler Museum’s Day of the Dead celebration, put on by the community outreach organization, Conciencia Libre.

Ibarra and UCLA student Zarathustra met in high school, growing up in Huntington Park in southeast Los Angeles. With his half Irish and half Mexican ethnicity, Ibarra has gotten a more unique look at ethnic issues. His two cultures have helped him look at the situations he’s faced from different perspectives.

“(My songs) are not political songs, they’re truth songs,” Ibarra said. “Truth to what is happening around us. I don’t think rich people should keep the poor poor.”

As Ibarra played his guitar and sang songs of justice for the oppressed peoples from Latin America, Zarathustra joined him in singing and playing. But Zarathustra’s playing and singing had a different, distinctive, Mexican feel.

During the show, Zarathustra swung his hips seductively at his female audience. He proudly displayed his Mexican roots with a tattoo of Mariachi singer and actor Javier Solis.

Zarathustra was born in Jalisco, but was raised in Southern California. This year he will graduate from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in Chicana and Chicano Studies.

He sings rhythmic cumbia songs that cater to the Mexican heritage of much of the band’s audience.

Yet he also has a message for his listeners. One of Zarathustra’s favorite songs that he has written is “Los Angeles,” which has hip-hop beats and reggae-style guitar, joined with rap lyrics.

“It’s a reality that I’m expressing. It’s not a reality that (Ibarra) is expressing. It’s my personal message,” Zarathustra said.

Bassist Jesús Yañez, drummer Marco Antonio Madera, and percussionist Esteban Ritmos make up the rest of Yerba Tribe. They bring to their young Latino audiences the realities of the L.A. streets, along with the social and political injustices they’ve witnessed.